Our Faith
As we begin our journey through Holy Week, this Sunday, we have been using our creative skills again to think about the contrast of our emotions and feelings from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. We used colour to demonstrate this. We also listen to Taize prayers and music to help us meditate upon the days.
Year 6 create their own images of ‘The Transfiguration’ inspired by the Gospel on 13th March 2022.
Year 6 celebrate a Lenten Class Mass with Father John.
Well-being Well - during Children’s Mental Health Week 2022 many learners expressed that they could turn to God for strength and support. Year 6 realise that talking to God is paramount in times of worry.
We take our role of being a prayer leader very seriously and we are reverent and thoughtful as we lead our class in collective worship.
We have been responding to Pope Francis’ invitation to openness of conversation and change, giving rise to hope for our future Church. We completed personal responses to the questions that Pope Francis asks of us...for example, what is your dream for the Church and your School? We has great discussions before we completed our personal responses.
Our current RE topic is ‘Unity.’ In this theme, we learn about how the Children’s Eucharistic Prayer invites us all to live in unity. Here are some of our responses in written and creative form.
‘Sources’ in Year 6
Since we returned from Christmas, Year 6 have been using the Good News Bible to learn how to look up Scripture references.
We learnt how the Bible means collection of books and that it is divided into two man parts, The Old Testament and The New Testament. The Old Testaments tells of many distinct books by various authors, produced over a period of centuries. We learnt that the first five books- the Pentateuch- correspond to the Jewish Torah. In contrast, the anew Testament has 27 books written between about 50 and 100 AD. These books tell of the the life of Jesus. Our art work represents the story of The Good Samaritan. We depicted how the man had been attacked felt as he was being attacked and then how he felt as the Samaritan helped him. He would have been surprised as the Jews and Samaritans rarely helped each other, yet, on this occasion, it was the Samaritan who reacted and took care of the Jew. Can you see this revealed in our art work? 
We expressed our joy at the birth of Jesus through an art tutorial, where we learnt how to draw a simple but effective Nativity.
Year 6 pupils helping other children in Key Stage 2 to prepare our school Advent wreath.
Our beautiful Advent altar and display in Year 6.
A big diolch to Father Nick who came to talk to us about his vocation to the priesthood.
Vocation of a Priest
This week Father Nick, the Cardiff University Chaplain, came to talk to Year 6 about his journey to becoming a priest. He spoke to us about the commitment he has made and continues to make. Father Nick went into detail about his calling from God and when he knew it was his mission to be a priest. We found out that life for priests is extremely busy and they have many tasks to complete. For example, missionary work, performing sacraments and helping people to become Catholics. We asked Father Nick some questions.
What inspired you to become a priest?
I initially went to university and studied aerospace engineering However, I knew that something was missing. I knew I had a call to the mission of the Gospel; there was a little voice in my head that wouldn’t go away. After the death of Pope John Paul II, I decided to become a priest.
What are your day to day responsibilities?
Every day is different! I usually answer emails and phone calls in the day and perform mass in the evenings with the students. I have recently renovated the university chaplaincy myself with a team of volunteers. I am also the hospital chaplain and I am called to visit the seriously unwell in hospital. As a priest, it is also my responsibility to teach people and prepare them for the sacraments.
How do you train to become a priest?
It takes 7 years to train to become a priest in a seminary. You study a lot of subjects including: sacraments, scriptures, philosophy and theology.
Are there any difficulties when being a priest?
It takes a lot of dedication and commitment to be a priest. You sometimes have to do things you don’t want to do. For example, I might have to go to the hospital to visit a sick person late at night.
Fratelli Tutti - Brothers and Sisters All
How can I be a good global neighbour?
How can we be a good global neighbour?
Explaining fraternal love
We enjoy leading our prayers each morning using TenTen daily classroom prayers.
Vocation and Commitment
This week in Year 6 we have started our new Come and See topic entitled ‘Vocations and Commitment’. This topic explores the idea of commitment and the difficulties involved with being committed to something. A vocation is when you are called to something, rather than just choosing a job. We began our topic by thinking about careers that are vocations and require a lot of commitment. A doctor is committed to working long hours and researching new cures, a teacher is committed to giving up their own time to ensure books are marked and lessons are planned and a fire fighter is committed to putting their life on the line to help to save others. Rof’s interview with a doctor is shared for you below.
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Interviewer: Good afternoon everyone! Welcome back and we have a very important special guest today. Say hello to Dr. Smith.
Dr. Smith: Hello! I will be on this interview today.
Interviewer: Hello Dr. Smith, I will be asking you questions for today, what commitment did you had in your job?
Dr. Smith: The commitment that I had today is that it takes a lot of commitment to be a Doctor. If you want to be a doctor, you have to have a lot of commitment to it. For example, you have to take care of patients, ill people, and other people that need some care. I had to give up my time to take care of ill people, and that I can help other people at the hospital.
Interviewer: Wow! I am very shocked about that, I didn’t realise that you have to give up time for people who need it. What does it involve?
Dr. Smith: I have to take care of the people who are sick, or ill and to take care of some patients that do not feel very well. I also had to sacrifice myself to be committed to helping people, and that I can be sick from them, I also don’t have a lot of time to spend time with my friends or family, or to even have to do things in my free time.
Interviewer: Did you hear that guys? Some jobs do not have a lot of time to spend time with their family or friends, and that they are committed to helping other people instead of wasting their free time. What are the personal risks?
Dr. Smith: The personal risks that I am going to take is to help the patients instead of spending time to go out with my friends or family. I am always dedicated to help people who are ill. I am also at risk of catching illnesses from them, especially during the pandemic.
Interviewer: Thank you for your time Dr. Smith.
We researched the Rosary as part of our home learning.
Stained glass windows inspired by our school Patron Saint.
St Philip Evans Prayers of thanks.
Year 6V’s ‘Loving’ Topic
Year 6 have just completed their first ‘Come and See’ topic on the theme of ‘Loving.’ During this topic, we have explored unconditional love as shown to us by our family, friends and God. We discovered that unconditional love means love that has no conditions attached to it. We have explored many scripture messages that speak of God’s unconditional love.
Isaiah informs us that God is coming, strong and powerful, true and dependable. He says that God is like a good shepherd, tending after his flock. Lena identified that if we believe and trust in God, he will help us through tough times and love us unconditionally. | In St Paul’s letter to Titus, Paul explains that he was foolish and wrong, full of sin and hatred before his conversion on the road to Damascus. John learnt that after his conversion, Paul travelled the country telling all about God’s unconditional love –it is never too late to change! John explained that this could shape his life by doing good deeds himself, like showing compassion and love to everyone that he meets. |
Ava learnt that the story of ‘The Prodigal Son’ is a parable that demonstrates God’s unconditional love. She wrote her own version of the parable, adapting scripture to fit in with her modern story.
“ A father had two sons, the younger was really fed up of working at his father’s office. So, he went to his father and said, “Father, give me the money from the office that I would inherit when you die!” The father was very sad to agree with this, but he did. The older brother was so furious and mad but the younger brother was over the moon. He had never has so much money in his life. He set off, in his new, expensive car to a place where no-one could find him and
| and he could show off all his money. People were so impressed. “There’s plenty of time to get a job and become a wealthy man,” he said to himself. But, the younger son soon ran out of money and he decided to go back to his father. The father had been hoping so much that his younger son would come back. When the father saw his son he shouted, “Book a table at the best restaurant. My son was lost but now is found.”
In this story, I think that the father represents God and the younger son represents us. No matter what we do, God loves us unconditionally.
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Our ‘ Loving’ class RE display. Can you see the religious key words?
Being ‘Eloquent and Truthful’ In Year 6
Bl 6 have been considering our new pair of virtues, ‘Eloquent and Truthful ‘in class, this week. We were inspired by the Bible story of Daniel in the lions’ den, and we learnt that some jealous leaders wanted to get rid of Daniel and they lied to the king, tricking him into making a new law. But Daniel believed in something so strongly that he was willing to risk everything – even his life – to stand up for that truth. In the story, God honoured him for his truthfulness and saved him from the lions.
Daniel’s story sets us a good example to try to stand up for the truth on all occasions and to know that God will be with us in that decision to tell the truth. We wrote about times when we had to be truthful and here are some of our recounts.
When was a time you stood up for the truth? A time when I stood up for the truth was when I was doing arts and crafts on my bed while using P V.A glue. I started to un-wrap the glue but then the glue lid fell straight onto my bed! I felt really worried that I would get in trouble but I knew God would help me be less worried about the situation. It wasn’t that easy to tell my mum, but I knew that she wouldn’t get mad if I told the truth! In the end she was a bit annoyed but she never said that I was in trouble. I knew God was on my side while it happened because luckily it didn’t get on the floor or my new clothes! This shaped my life by making me less worried to tell the truth about bad situations!
-Luchia Ellul Alimikhena
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The story of Daniel and in the lions’ den’ is important because its moral means standing up for the truth. I can relate to this story when I saw a man drop his phone when I was at Roath Park and my dad allowed me to give back the phone by myself. I was truthful because I gave back the phone and I didn’t steal it. I n the end the man gave me two pounds. It was a little bit easy because I knew what the right thing to do was. This shaped my life because I know that I should always be eloquent and truthful God was with me because he helped me to overcome temptation.
-Oscar Elksnis
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In the story of” Daniel in the Lions den,” some of his friends betrayed him, and lied to the king that Daniel broke the laws. Daniel was an innocent Christian who believed in God with all his living, and so God protected him from the Lions. God protected him because Daniel believed in the truth. A time when I stood for the truth was when I was trying to do the laundry, but accidentally spilt some washing liquid on the floor . I knew my mum would be upset, but I also knew that if I didn’t tell her I would be in more trouble. When I told my mum, she was a bit upset but we then cleaned it up together. It was a bit hard to tell my mum because I was scared of the outcome. BUT, I knew God was with me because he gave me the courage to tell my mum. This shaped my life as a Christian because it taught me that no matter what the situation is, God is always with me. This also taught me to tell the truth because you wont get as big of a consequence. The outcome was fair because I spilt the washing liquid, and I cleaned it up. -Lena Hikary
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Eloquent and Truthful
Our current school virtues are being 'Eloquent and Truthful.' What does this look like in Year 6? This prayer exemplifies it for us.
Dear Father,
We pray our Year 6 class will be filled with love,
We pray our learning will be full of truth.
We pray our playground will be full of joy.
We pray our friendships will be full of forgiveness.
We pray our teachers will be full of wisdom.
We pray our community will be full of hope.
May we run with your love,
Build on your truth,
Play with your joy,
Share your forgiveness,
Rest in your wisdom,
Every day
Amen
